The Shadow of What Was Lost (The Licanius Trilogy, #1)

by James Islington

All that I wanted, I received All that I dreamed, I achieved All that I feared, I conquered All that I hated, I destroyed All that I loved, I saved And so I lay down my head, weary with despair For all that I needed, I lost.

An echo of things to come: “For all that you have been given, you are fearful and weak and cowardly. For all that you have lost, you have not earned! It’s not fate and it’s not love and it was never, ever because you thought that you were doing the right thing!”

“For myself, and my siblings. Four hunt. One hides, cognizant of what he is. A true traitor. An escherii.” The man gazed at her. “And I Watch.”

Every man who holds a sword in his hand, holds murder in his heart.’”

“Everyone has a darker nature, Caeden. Everyone. Good men fear it, and evil men embrace it. Good men are still tempted to do the wrong thing, but they resist those urges. As you did. You have nothing to worry about.”

Just because El knows each choice I’m going to make—even if He created me knowing it’s the choice I would make—doesn’t mean it’s not mine.”

“But perhaps it’s still not free will as you would think of it. That’s the natural arrogance of man, sadly. We want to believe that free will means complete independence from the plans of our creator.”

“You can put your trust in something that’s obvious, that’s measurable or predictable—but that’s not faith. Nor is believing in something that gives you no pause for doubt, no reason or desire to question. Faith is something more than that. By definition, it cannot have proof as its foundation.”

“Because it strikes me that a man needs to know what he believes before he can really know who he is.”

“Such is the way of weak men,” he murmured. “Daring to believe only in what can be seen, touched, and measured.”

“You sneaked out of the palace last night,”

I just learned that the formal past tense of sneak is sneaked while the informal one is snuck. I HATE THAT